Jeff Ragan’s Reviews > Buddhism > Status Update

"Just as a palmyra tree, the top of which has been cut off, can never sprout again, so a priest who, with evil intent and for sake of gain, untruly and falsely has laid claim to more than human perfection, ceases to be a priest, or to be a son of Sakya. This is to be avoided so long as life shall last" (166).

"And the Exalted One said:...what, bhikkhus, is the Aryan Truth concerning the Way that leads to the Cessation of Ill? This is that Aryan Eightfold Path, to wit, right view, right aspiration, right speech, right doing, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right rapture" (133).

"To this ideal of a lifeless Nirvana and an extinct Buddha some schools [e.g. Theravada] alone remained faithful. A tendency to convert Buddha into a superhuman, eternally living, principle manifested itself early among his followers and led to a schism" (122).

"...a being is nothing but a combination of physical & mental forces or energies. What we call death is the total non-functioning of the physical body. Do all these forces and energies stop altogether with the non-functioning of the body? Buddhism says 'No.' Will, volition, desire, thirst to exist, to continue, to become more...is a tremendous force that moves whole lives, whole existences...the whole world" (114).

"[The monk's] mind is ever intent on the mastery of the Dharma. His conduct is to be as transparent as ice or crystal, He is not to seek fame and wealth, But to rid himself of all defilements. There is no other way open to him but to wander about and inquire; Let him be trained in mind and body by crossing mountains and fording rivers; Let him befriend wise men in the Dharma and pay them respect..." (103).

"...Bodhisattva consists of two words Bodhi (enlightenment) & Sattva (essence) & they [the Bodhisattvas as Sambhoga-kaya manifestations} represent a class of deities who derive their origin from the five Dhyani Buddhas representing the five primordial elements. The Bodhisattvas thus connote all the male deities of the Buddist pantheon, while their female counterparts are known by the generic name of Saktis" (93-94).

"The cosmological conception of the Buddha was formulated into the doctrine of Kayas, essentially an early Mahayana view which culminated in the later Mahayana and Vajrayana pantheons" (83).